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"Business Attire"
Hokutosei
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
As I sit here in my dress shirt, pants, and tie with my jacket hanging behind me in my office, I require the A/C on to cool myself, due to myself being used to being in shorts. My question is regarding "business attire".
Why do you think we dress up as we do? The argument that it is "more professional" to do so is really only because it has been aroudn for so long that it is generally accepted as is. The possibility is that a person can be equally or even more qualified for a job, and mroe "professional" doing it, but is not dressed within a "three-piece-cage".
Now, I am not saying wear crap, like a wrinkled shirt with holes, a thong that is dirty, and nothing on your feet at all, but why not always be "casual". Why would people choose to perpetuate a system that makes them uncomfortable? I have seen in many cases that the secretaries of a business need be dressed in "business attire", and yet the programmers are dressed in shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. And yet, the programmer makes two to three times the secretary.
I understand the point of view that the secretary is the face of the company, and that the people visiting said company will expect it, but why? The only reason I can really think of is that they expect it due to they ar ein the same attire, and their company has the same attire realted regulations. If that were to change, then dressing in shorts, a shirt, and shoes/flip-flops could fit the bill. As I stated already, a "nice" shirt. By that I mean not dirty, smelly, or filled with holes. Shorts that are of the same quality as the shirt and footwear depending on the work environment. Obviously if you are working with something heavy you would want to wear some more substantial then say flip-flops.
There you have it. That is my series of questions in the attempt to stimulate debate. Slow work-day here, just running a design through some simulations so have nothing to do until they are over.
Why do you think we dress up as we do? The argument that it is "more professional" to do so is really only because it has been aroudn for so long that it is generally accepted as is. The possibility is that a person can be equally or even more qualified for a job, and mroe "professional" doing it, but is not dressed within a "three-piece-cage".
Now, I am not saying wear crap, like a wrinkled shirt with holes, a thong that is dirty, and nothing on your feet at all, but why not always be "casual". Why would people choose to perpetuate a system that makes them uncomfortable? I have seen in many cases that the secretaries of a business need be dressed in "business attire", and yet the programmers are dressed in shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. And yet, the programmer makes two to three times the secretary.
I understand the point of view that the secretary is the face of the company, and that the people visiting said company will expect it, but why? The only reason I can really think of is that they expect it due to they ar ein the same attire, and their company has the same attire realted regulations. If that were to change, then dressing in shorts, a shirt, and shoes/flip-flops could fit the bill. As I stated already, a "nice" shirt. By that I mean not dirty, smelly, or filled with holes. Shorts that are of the same quality as the shirt and footwear depending on the work environment. Obviously if you are working with something heavy you would want to wear some more substantial then say flip-flops.
There you have it. That is my series of questions in the attempt to stimulate debate. Slow work-day here, just running a design through some simulations so have nothing to do until they are over.
If nothing is impossible, then would that not mean that it would be impossible to find something that is impossible?
"It is not enough that I succeed, all other must fail." -Genghis Khan
"It is not enough that I succeed, all other must fail." -Genghis Khan
Hokutosei on
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Generally speaking the more your job involves meetings and wheeling and dealing with clients, the more likely you are to have to wear a suit. Me, I only have to wear one when I'm traveling or at a meeting with clients. Otherwise they don't give a fuck, as long as I have pants on.
It's laughable. Not only is the idea of business attire dumb, it actually is detrimental to the performance of some job functions that require it.
Then again I change into business attire when I arrive at the office and wear basically the same thing every day.
I've often thought a more relaxed atmosphere would promote a better workday, but the corporate office seems to think that if you dress professionally, you'll work professionally. Meh.
I think it's because you're less likely to make awful clothing choices with the relatively limited selection of formal attire than you would without restriction. I think most people still look like slobs even in their professional attire, though, which is why I'm never that high on it.
That's probably me.
I have seven identical shirts and a few pairs of very similar trousers. I've had to point out that it's not the same shirt from yesterday before.
Current workplace dresscode: If you're in a lab, long pants and closed shoes. If not, no biker shorts or exposed midriffs.
One of my interviews was by a person in a basketball jersey. It was kinda surreal.
I love it.
More cumbersome, no. More expensive because when you have to crawl under and climb over shit to fix other shit your khakis last less than half as long as a pair of classy jeans would, yes.
I've never had to work in IT or fix anything at a job, so I never had to deal with that. People who do stuff like that should be able to wear jeans, I agree.
It isn't like the stuff is all that uncomfortable, aside from the fact that you have to be absurdly careful so as to not ruin your pants that cost as much as an xbox.
The logic is that it has a collar, and is therefore more professional than a t-shirt, but less so than a shirt.
Basically the rule seems to be that the more unnecessary features a garment has the more formal it is.
I wonder if, in 100 years, a solid football jersey will be "business casual".
If I add a second fly to my jeans can I wear them to work, then?
It isn't all that bad once you get in the habit. I actually enjoy going to the dry cleaners and picking up fresh clean clothes.
And you're only paying $200 for pants if you're shopping in the wrong places. MEN'S WAREHOUSE AND SYMS HOLLAAAAAAAAAAAAA
You have to admit that you've seen the middle aged guy in the bag of a suit he probably had to wear. That guy won't look worse in jeans/shirt unless he goes with a wolf-tee.
Wolf-tee prevention is probably the biggest plus of business-attire.
See, I love trousers and hate slacks. Jeans I'm ambivalent towards so I'll wear them every now and again, but you'll pretty much always see me in a pair of khaki's.
And I look sexy in a suit.
Nah, I got into the habit and it was still exactly all that bad. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a stock-broker, I'm not a salesman. I'll make sure I don't look like a slob and people can lay the fuck off my practical pants.
You haven't worked with a lot of engineers have you? The abominations that can be constructed from 'business casual' are astounding in their ugliness. Not to even get into the physique of the average engineer. A bag suit is couture compared to that.
Also, wrinkled shirt crew checking in.
Helpdesk guys had to be neat and clean with dockers and a button up shirt.
desktop techs could get away with jeans and a polo
Networking gurus, Unix, and Windows admins could pretty much wear whatever they wanted.
AS/400 and Mainframe guys could probably be naked in their cubes and we wouldn't even know.
I'm an engineer now, we can SOMETIMES get away with wearing anything (today I have on well-worn dockers and a very old Sun polo, untucked and unbuttoned), but when the customer comes in for a demo or something, we have to clean up... but NEVER a shirt and tie. Management does that shit.
This is probably the biggest disconnect.
People who look "professional" are people who care about how they look. Outside of those people it's basically just a uniform. Personally I'm not inclined to spend any great amount of money on clothes I don't like that I'm wearing because I'm required to.
Even if I have an interview on a Friday and so the interviewer is all dressed chill and whatnot
I dunno, it is silly
I guess for interviews it will make everyone at least dress equally professional so they can focus on other things and leave clothing out of it... and I guess I do look good in a suit. But it is still a pain.
Pretty sure it arose as a fashion thing. Not functional.
Originally? It kept sweat from dripping to your chest. Now? It cinches your collar and can add interest/subtle accessories to your appearance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_(history)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necktie
Basically people got into the habit of wearing progressively simpler versions of what went before, until those became accepted as "formal". I think generally we're starting to see the death of the necktie and the abandonment of the jacket as necessities of formality.
it's a handy device for security to throw you out with when you get fired.